Amara Raja Batteries Limited and a few other investors have announced an investment of $85 million in Log 9 Materials, a Bengaluru-based advanced battery technology start-up.

As anchor investor, batteries major Amara Raja’s share of investment is $5 million. Log 9 Materials has raised another $3-5 million from existing and other new investors.

Amara Raja’s investment in Log 9 Materials is part of its strategy to focus on new green technologies and solutions.

While providing an impetus to the ongoing research and development work at Log 9, Amara Raja is expected to be the primary partner for scaling up the manufacturing operations of Log 9’s battery and fuel cell technologies.

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Log 9’s newly developed rapid charging battery packs solve multiple challenges to expedite the adoption of electric two- and three-wheelers in India; the start-up’s flagship aluminum fuel cell technology is targeted at long-haul electric mobility and as a zero-emission alternative to diesel generators.

Vikramadithya Gourineni, Executive Director, Amara Raja Batteries, said that the investment was in line with the company’s plans to “invest in cutting-edge technologies to accelerate its evolution towards becoming an ‘energy and mobility’ enterprise. This will mark the first in a series of interesting developments that we plan to execute in the future”.

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Akshay Singhal, Founder and CEO, Log 9 Materials, said, “We are delighted to have ARBL as one of the anchor investors in the Series A+ funding round of Log 9. The partnership with ARBL will enable us to propel commercialisation at scale of our rapid charging batteries, which, in turn, shall play a major role in the future... in Log 9 eventually becoming the frontrunner and one of the largest Indian players in advanced cell chemistries.”

Log 9’s existing investors include Exfinity Ventures and Sequoia Capital India’s Surge Programme, alongside a clutch of new investors, as part of its Series A+ funding round.

These funds will be utilised to expand production capacity and the business development efforts of Log 9’s latest rapid charging battery technology, which has completed successful pilots and is due for commercial roll-out in October 2021. The start-up plans to set up local cell manufacturing for these technologies under the niche category of the advanced chemistry cell production-linked incentive (ACC PLI) scheme.

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